China’s Great Firewall: On, Off and On Again

China’s President Hu Jintao stands on a limousine to inspect the military parade near Tiananmen Gate at celebrations to mark the 60th China anniversary in Beijing.

For the last two months, many Internet users in China say they have been denied access to a dozen popular Web sites and bulletin boards as part of the government’s preparations for the upcoming 60th anniversary of the proclamation of People’s Republic on Oct. 1.

“This year has been tighter than for many years,” said Jeremy Goldkorn, founder of Danwei.org, an English-language outlet that translates Chinese news.

He said that most of the blocked sites are social networks like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, which posted anti-government texts or videos during the July upheaval of the Xinjiang Uygur minority group.

Danwei has been blocked since July 3. Other sensitive sites such as Reporters Without Borders and Amnesty International were taken down this week. To date this has become the longest continuous blockage in the nation’s history.

Facebook, Twitter and YouTube didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. Reporters Without Borders confirmed that its site has been blocked, as it often has been in China except for the few months surrounding the Olympics.

China has a long history of blocking and unblocking popular Web sites. YouTube and Wikipedia were frequent targets in past years. After a relatively long stretch of accessibility throughout last year and early this year, YouTube was blocked again this March after the site shared a video showing Chinese policemen beating Tibetan monks.

Over the years, Internet users in China have grown used to crackdowns during major political events. But during the Beijing Olympics last year, information seemed to be flowing more freely prior to and during the games. Temporary application procedures for Western media companies became more lax, making people believe the country might be on its way to loosening up its information control.

But the recent blockage raises the question of whether China has reverted to its censoring ways, since National Day is not as visible to the rest of the world as the Olympics. One It seems to be an on-again, off-again game that is depends in part on whether or not the rest of the world is paying attention.